Has anyone installed the drop top styly dodger ( designed by Gemini out of Rockland, Me.) on their s/v. It looks like the option for me and I'm curious as to whether you have to go to Rockland or whether other canvas shops are ordering the hardware and installing.

A big part of John's business is selling his patented fittings to other canvas shops. If you want a drop top find the best canvas guy you can as these things are tricky to make and require a good amount of talent.

Unless the weather was foul, we almost always sailed with our old dodger flipped forward so we could have good air flow in the cockpit. But we missed the hand holds of the dodger when it was up. So I hired a local guy to make something very similar to the Gemini design. While we are happy with the result, it's not for the reasons expected.

One feature we liked in the pic of the Gemini design is the extra grab-handle at the aft of the dodger top. When the top is collapsed forward, the handle adds almost 4" to the height of the dodger. Since headroom under the dodger is an issue for me, we tried to maximize that and ended up with a dodger that cannot be collapsed forward under the boom. But what we did get is a very solid dodger frame that we leave up all the time. We designed all of the sides and front pieces to be clear plastic, so when the weather is nice, we have all of those pieces removed, which allows complete air flow to the cockpit and leaves a bimini like sun shade over the companionway.

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